Our Powder Room Makeover!

We’ve been in our house for just over 5 years now, and since we’ve been in it we haven’t done much to it. It was a new house when we moved in, but now it’s getting to a point where some things need replaced and repainted. It’s kind of overwhelming when you look at every room and fixture, and think it needs redone. So we are tackling one room at a time. Ok, well maybe 2 at a time slowly. Right now we are working on getting our Master Bedroom done, and just recently we tackled our powder room.

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When we were at my sisters for Easter, I saw her newly redone bathroom and almost fell over. It’s so gorgeous! And there is no coincidence that our newly redone Powder Room may be a similar colour… What I really loved most about her bathroom was that she had replaced the mirror with a gorgeous framed one. So I went on a mission to find just the right mirror – one that we could do the whole room around. And I found one at HomeSense! Score! Once I had this mirror, I could see a vision…

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So here we go…here’s our ‘Before’ bathroom:

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Our ‘Before’ bathroom was very plain. Nice, but no personality for us. It was painted the same colour as the rest of the house, and had the same terrible light fixtures as all the other bathrooms. Of all the things I hate most about our home it’s all the lights. The bathroom lights are the worst. They are rusty and just not our style. At. All. Time to go!

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But now, how to get the builder mirror off? My sis had warned us that this was going to be hard – these mirrors are superglued to the drywall! So how to get it off without ripping a giant hole in the drywall? Well my hubby did some research and there seemed to be a common theme…heat the mirror so the glue becomes softened.

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How we removed the builder mirror:

What you will need: Blow dryer, duct tape, shims

One thing to note: Removing the mirror will likely not leave you with an unblemished wall. This didn’t really matter to us because we knew we were just going to be covering the same spot with a new mirror. Our goal was just to get the mirror off without ripping the drywall or putting a hole in it.

Stabilize the mirror with duct tape. This part is very important! You have to tape the mirror so that in the event the mirror breaks as you pry it from the wall, you don’t have glass fly everywhere. See the picture above.

Insert the shims around the mirror as pictured above. They help to slowly pry the mirror from the wall. We just used plastic shims we bought at Home Depot.

Get out your blow dryer and aim it at your mirror! You have to do this long enough to get the glue softened. It took us about 15-20 minutes.

When the mirror is ready to come off you will know. Just slowly pull it from the wall. We were left with some glue on the dry wall, but no holes! I didn’t care what it really looked like behind, because I knew we were just going to be covering it with a new mirror. We just scraped off the remaining glue and sanded the wall to make it smooth.

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One thing we had done to the bathroom a couple of years ago, was tile the ledge that runs along the wall under the mirror and the window. We used an ice blue glass tile that helped us determine our wall colour. So next we painted.

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We used Behr Sonata in eggshell: 530E-3

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This colour is funny because it looks SO different it different lighting.
Sometimes it looks very blue and other times it’s very grey looking. I love it!

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Next we hung a new light! Hallelujah!

These lights are from the Martha Stewart Living Seal Harbor Collection from Home Depot.

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Now for the best part…the mirror!

I found this beautiful mirror at Home Sense – it’s exactly what I wanted!

I love white, I love the weathered look of it, and I love that it is round!

It fits perfectly!

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Love this mirror!

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Then we re-stuck these Umbra white molded wall flowers.

They add a nice touch to the room. Girly. Like me. I am girly. I admit it. Finally.

(look how grey the wall looks here…crazy colour)

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Here is our bathroom ‘After’:

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I love, love how it turned out!

It’s fresh, cheery and has my 2 favourite colours: white and blue!

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It feels brand new!

And the best part is that it only took us one afternoon to transform it!

ReplyKaren At HomeMay 16, 2012 at 3:14 AM
What a difference! It's amazing what a little paint will do. Love the color!

ReplyLoriMay 16, 2012 at 2:05 PM
I LOVE it, JA!! Well done, to you both. Two of my bffs, one here in the NW and one in NS have bathrooms so similar to this it's giving me goosebumps! Right down to the sweet Umbra decor. LOVE it. Enjoy.

ReplyJillyMay 19, 2012 at 9:28 AM
Your Powder Room is beautiful! I love the flowers did you make them? Jilly oxo

ReplyA Pretty Life in the SuburbsMay 20, 2012 at 3:46 AM
Thanks Jilly! I love those flowers too - but I didn't make them! They are made by Umbra and you can probably find them at some place like Target!

ReplySue@House PrettyJuly 17, 2012 at 10:14 AM
Hi, I just found yo through the Thrifty Decor Bathroom linky party! And, I'm feeling your paint, girl! Our bathroom is next up. Hey, at least yours wasn't ugly. Ours IS ugly! And, I see we will both have a similar color scheme going on!

ReplyNellijaMay 3, 2014 at 6:17 PM
We've lived in our house for 2+ years. Well, ours was not brand new, but it certainly has some outdated features. I just love how small details can make a huge difference!

ReplyKristaSeptember 29, 2014 at 10:56 AM
I love what you did to the bathroom. The tiles along the window ledge are really pretty! I'm looking to redo my bathroom and I have a sneaking suspicion that your mirror trick will come in handy!

ReplyJo-Anna@APrettyLifeSeptember 30, 2014 at 10:42 AM
Thank you Krista! The tiles and the mirror are my favourite part of my bathroom too!